Antisemitism is hard to discern in the present xenophobic and anti-immigrant public mood, but Italian Jewry, basing its judgment on bitter past experience, remains wary of the voters’ dramatic switch.
Mireille Knoll’s murder haunts me. It is a painful reminder (as if we needed one) of the face of antisemitism in France today, where a helpless and sick 85-year-old Holocaust survivor can be killed in her apartment for one reason only: because she is Jewish.
For those of us, and I include the American Jewish Committee (AJC) centrally here, who have struggled to write a bright new chapter in Polish-Jewish relations, this is a key moment. We dare not lose the momentum gained in recent years.
One day, I fear, what is currently happening in Polish-Israeli and Polish-Jewish relations will become a case study for universities and diplomatic academies around the world in how an outwardly strong partnership can unravel practically overnight.